Welcome to ANALOGORAMA!
This newsletter is a hub for all things film photography. Every week we’ll provide resources, stories, and profiles that educate and inspire film-loving individuals just like you!
The subject of this week’s newsletter is…
Analog Photography and Community
How can the practice of film photography facilitate community?
The ever-changing and growing collective of people who decide to shoot film photography is unlike any other interest-based community. Required to adapt, react, and consistently perform with a blind spot, analog photographers are incredibly resourceful and patient.
This group of people can be found in community darkrooms, art classes, in online forums sharing tips and tricks for a more perfect shot, or in the film processing shop closest to you. This week we’ll take a look at analog community spaces in NYC, why the analog community is important, and how analog photography allows one to capture their community.
An exemplar of this resourceful nature is Bushwick Community Darkroom co-founder and director, Lucia Rollow. After graduating in 2009, Rollow noticed there were liminal community/work spaces accessible to analog photographers in New York City. The answer? Build her own. Lomography interviewed Rollow about the darkroom, charting its history from its humble beginning. In 2011 the Bushwick Community Darkroom started out as a closet space in a basement and has been “growing organically ever since.” Today, BCD has expanded into a fully-fledged organization that inhabits a 3,000+ square foot warehouse in Brooklyn, providing New Yorkers with 24/7 studio and darkroom access, as well as facilitating an accessible, affordable, communal safe space of creativity.
Ever so often I hear a speculative voice that taints the hope for the future of film photography. “Film is dying!” they say, and when you consider the amount of companies that are discontinuing film stocks, their claim doesn’t seem far off. Talya Adams is a photographer, artist, and author who sees this reality unfolding, and writes for medium with a few tips on how to keep film alive longer.
It is the community that maintains the life force of film photography, Adams explains. We as a collective must preserve and pass on the tools necessary to shoot film; this includes “donating broken or unused cameras to your local repair shop,” and passing along the film cameras that work but are barely used. Adams writes that “keeping twenty film cameras and not using them does not help the overall film community grow,” urging us to spread our knowledge and resources to grow the community. As the collective of film photographers is refreshed with each generation, it is up to the seasoned photographers to teach those who are less experienced helpful tips and tricks that can inspire a true love for film. These people are the ones who will help film survive!
AD
Are you looking for a new old camera?
Need one for an affordable price?
Check out these listings on Etsy.
While film photography is an incredible hobby to find community in, it also allows photographers to capture their community in a very different way than what digital photography permits.
Since the dawn of its existence, photography has been a means of documentation and preservation of culture, a topic I’ve discussed in a previous week’s newsletter. Diane Arbus, Helen Levitt, and Henri Cartier-Bresson, their peers, and those who have been inspired by them continuously find beauty in what is often taken for granted: Community. Naturally, these iconic street photographers used film because it was the only technology available at the time. Now, in an age defined by myriad options, people continue to choose film photography as their method for capturing their community.
In 2017, Dazed Magazine teamed up with Huawei to feature 20 photographers, highlighting the way they capture the beauty of their communities. The results were lovely images that depicted otherwise underrepresented demographics in an artistic and appreciative manner. Many of the featured photographers utilized film in the photos that accompanied their bio, a testament to the magic of film and its ability to make a seemingly “simple” image complex.
What else can film do in regards to capturing the image of a community? When shooting with film, the final product is a thing of the future. The photographer cannot be so concerned with the minute details of a shot, or spend minutes trying to get the shot that is *just* right. Instead, when one shoots with film, you are forced to be present in the moment. As a photographer, you’re focused on capturing your subject in the best way possible, and when film is the medium, you’re concerned about just that: The simple act of documenting the moment. Consequently, you are more present which can make for better photos as the shoot goes on.
This is why film and community go hand in hand. Analog photography can place you in your community in more ways than one, and that’s just another one of the beautiful things about film photography!